Women and Religion in the Medieval and Early Modern World

Dear Colleagues,

The inspiring theme and starting point for this Special Issue of Religions is undoubtedly presented within its title: Women and Religion in the Medieval and Early Modern World.

Based on this, and on the realities of different geographies, researchers are invited to reflect on themes related to women's monastic historical landscapes in the long time. The aim is to highlight the importance both of the initial communities of women who decided to move away from the world, thus fostering the emergence of future communities already subject to a rule, and the choice of founding sites (genius loci) of women's religious communities and their possible relationship with gender. We will also try to relate this geography of the nuns' facilities to the architecture that characterized them.

A different proposed line of work aims to observe the connections with the outside world through prosopographical analysis (giving priority in this analysis to the social origin of the religious women), or to appreciate their inter-community mobility (and the motivations for such mobility, before and after the Council of Trent), or even to reflect on who they received in the seclusion, who they visited and why, and where they went and for what reasons, all of which are very interesting topics for reflection.

In addition, it is proposed that researchers look at the pressure felt in monasteries, in the medieval and modern periods, to receive novices and educators, and how this was contextualized, or at the mechanisms for attracting new vocations in periods of greater fragility in the population of the communities. We can also look at how, in these communities, and after religion practice had begun, the formation of the nuns took place and how we can appreciate the testimonies of their literacy today.

In the daily life of the seclusion, it is also necessary to think about conflicts—both within the community and between the community and outside, involving personalities and institutions—and how they were solved, calling for reflection regarding justice practice in the female monastic community, plus how this application was instrumentalized and who had power to decide on it. Furthermore, in this everyday environment, the question of emotions can be explored in a post-Trent context, in an ideal of closeness to Christ, where sacrifices, fasting, private devotions, visions, and self-flagellation played an important part. At the same time, however, the observance of religious vows was called into question in these same communities, especially the vow of poverty, which was often ignored, with luxury invading the cells, robes, and private objects of the religious, particularly in the modern period.

Monasteries and convents also made a decisive contribution to the construction of the image of women in the medieval and modern periods. In fact, reflecting on how they were seen and represented, and how their image was fixed in the arts (writing, painting and illumination, sculpture), as well as the ways in which they operated to self-construct their image, both by making the monastic habitat a space for creativity and cultural expression, and as patrons and commissioners, are also lines of work to be explored.

We request that, prior to submitting a manuscript, interested authors initially submit a proposed title and an abstract of 200–300 words summarizing their intended contribution. Please send it to the Guest Editor, or to the Assistant Editor Katarina Maksimovic of Religions. Abstracts will be reviewed by the Guest Editors for the purposes of ensuring proper fit within the scope of the Special Issue. Full manuscripts will undergo double-blind peer review.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Antónia Fialho Conde
Guest Editor

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